A No-Cost Teleclass for Case Study Writers
Copywriters: Want to make more money with case studies?
Then your stories HAVE to SELL.
Join me on Wednesday, September 8 at 9 PDT/12 EDT for a no-cost, one-hour teleclass:
For Case Study Copywriters: 8 Secrets for Writing Stories That Sell (More)
In this one-hour call, you’ll take away tips to help you create better case studies and be more valuable to your clients or company:
- The #1 way to "wow" your client or boss – What questions can you ask your client so you deliver more on-target stories?
- How to case your client’s competition – Case studies must sell against the competition. Do you know what to look for and how to write a story that competes?
- “Magic” questions to get featured customers to tell you more – How do you get hesitant interviewees to share more details of their experience?
- How to uncover measurable results – How can you help featured customers measure their results?
- Writing stories that pull prospects in – What tactics make a story more engaging and keep prospects reading?
- How to give executive decision-makers what they want in a case study – With time-pressed decision-makers, how do you help them glean information faster?
- Adding navigational “signposts” to your stories – Do you know how to cater to skim readers?
- Getting the customer’s "tears ‘n fears" – Why is emotion important and how do you weave it into your case studies?
Take away tips to help you write better case studies and be more valuable to your clients. In other words, make more money!
Copywriters: Homework Makes You a Better Case Study Writer
Copywriters:
Today’s the first day back to school where I live. Neighborhood kids are donning their new backpacks, books and shoes.
Homework isn’t just for school kids. Now’s the perfect time to talk about the studying you have to do as a case study copywriter.
Say you’ve just signed a new client for case studies. How do you get started?
By being studious. Don’t just jump into the actual case study, no matter how much of an urgency there is for that story.
If you don’t fully understand your new client’s products and services, you’ll be hard-pressed to interview, understand and write well. The risk? Your story may not deliver maximum sales potential.
Simply said, if you know your client’s solutions well, you’ll be a more valuable asset.
Here’s the step-by-step on how to study a new client’s products and services:
1. Ask your client which products and services will be featured in the case study(ies).
2. Does the client have current, available marketing materials on these solutions?
3. Ask about product datasheets, brochures, press releases, white papers, existing case studies, demos, videos and any other materials.
4. Find out where these materials reside.
5. Spend 1-2 hours reviewing available information.
6. Lifesaver! Look up terms and acronyms you don’t know in search engines or www.Wikipedia.org.
7. Create a “Cheat Sheet” for yourself of terms and key messages. (If your client ever goes a while without doing case studies, and picks back up, consider this Cheat Sheet your way to refresh your memory on solutions.)
8. As you study, look for answers to questions such as…
How does the company refer to its products and services? What product names and industry terms does it use?
What do the featured solutions do?
Who uses them?
When?
What problems do they solve?
What are the main business benefits that users can expect?
9. Write down the product/service questions you have for your client, and don’t be afraid to ask them!
10. Also as you study, start a draft of your customer interview questions for these solutions.
Never forget to stop and do your homework. You’ll make the grade much faster with your new client.
What else is in your ramp-up process with new clients?
The ‘Tell ‘Em, Tell ‘Em, Tell ‘Em’ Approach to Case Studies
Ever heard this popular expression regarding presentations?
"Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. And then tell them what you told them." Or something along those lines.
Why should we repeat ourselves? Because people have short attention spans. By repeating, audiences hopefully go away having heard your most important points at least once, if not more.
In a written story, repeating ensures that skimmers catch your main ideas.
So how do you apply the "tell ‘em, tell ‘em, tell ‘em" advice to case studies and success stories?
Try applying these three ideas to your next case study project:
The Intro Summary
In longer magazine features or even the evening news, the story often kicks off with a brief summary of what’s to come – usually only about a paragraph.
For each of its case studies, Microsoft includes a summary just under the headline, before the body copy starts.
Keep it short and to the point. Ideally, mirror the rest of the story in that single paragraph by briefly mentioning the main challenge, how it was solved and the biggest benefit the customer experienced.
The Body Copy
Before you ever start writing, ask one question: What is the most important thing I want the audience to know? Then, structure your story around that message.
For example, maybe the #1 take-away is that the featured product enables faster customer support.
Early on, talk about the challenges of delivering customer support and how slowness has affected the business.
Follow that with solution delivery that indicates HOW the solution expedites support.
Finally, let the reader know that customer support is indeed faster, and back that up (hopefully!) with metrics.
Include customer quotes that touch on the speed of delivery through your story, and headlines as well.
With multiple mentions of your main idea, you not only "tell ‘em," but a case study lets you SHOW the audience.
The Wrap-Up Quote
Personally, I love ending a case study with a quote that’s the equivalent of a big bow around the whole story – something that truly encapsulates the customer’s experience.
Who should have the last word in a customer story? The customer. A quote feels more authentic than ending with a summary paragraph.
The perfect wrap-up quote doesn’t introduce anything new, but rather reflects the relationship in a nutshell.
To get a spot-on final quote, I usually ask this simple question, "Is there anything else you would like to add that we haven’t talked about yet?"
Often, the customer provides his or her own summary of the relationship.
If not, try, "What would you tell others about your experience of working with ABC Company?"
With your story written, go back and count where your key points pop up to make sure you’ve told them, told them and told them again.
Seen any great examples of companies that do this with their case studies? Send them my way and I’ll feature them on the blog.
Customer Presented on Your Behalf? Do More with a Live Case Study
This week, two PowerPoint presentations came my way.
My clients’ happy customers had actually presented these decks in live case studies (either in person or on a webinar). How fantastic is that – a customer willing to talk to an audience about success with your products and services?
That’s about as good as it gets.
Smart marketing teams know the next step: Turn that live presentation into something that you can re-use again and again.
Here are 4 tips for taking next steps with a customer’s live case study presentation.
1. Ask for permission upfront
You would think that standing on a podium and publicly discussing success with a specific solution makes a written story a shoe-in.
Not true. A written story, posted on the web, leaves a searchable and lasting trail of evidence about what your customer said. This scares some customers. They’re worried you’re the next Enron and they just don’t want to risk a public endorsement.
You need to ask for specific permission for a separate written story, and the customer will want to review it most likely.
While your contact may be fine with turning the presentation into written or video assets, the company may not agree. BEFORE you record that presentation or webinar, or write it, ask for official permission.
If you can record it, ask HOW you can use the recording. Some might just give you permission to share it internally among sales reps, while others will let you post it on your website, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
2. PowerPoint is not enough for written
Even if you don’t plan to use the recording with external audiences, or don’t have permission to do so, a recording is valuable.
A PowerPoint presentation provides the visuals and highlights but it’s never the full story. The presenter adds that.
What’s missing from PowerPoints? Detail, explanation, complete sentences for quotes, and most critically, emotion.
Customer case studies are stories. Without real customer comments and emotion, you lose much of its storytelling power.
Personally, I always have more questions, usually lots more, when I receive a PowerPoint.
So, get it recorded somehow. If you don’t want to release the video to a writer, then get a transcript.
3. Interview the customer
For a couple of reasons, you may need to interview the customer further:
-
The customer’s presentation didn’t include some of the information that usually goes into a case study. Maybe the customer doesn’t go into why they chose your solution – a very insightful piece for prospective customers.
- Or, you did not get a recording.
Ask the customer if they are willing to fill in some of the gaps that the slide deck misses.
4. Got permission? Use it!
When you get specific permission to use these assets, make them work for you. Don’t shelf that rich information.
Post video, edited down perhaps, on demand on your website. Send the video link to prospects, Tweet about it, and distribute it on social media video sharing sites.
Write it up and post it online and among your sales assets.
Check out this list for 25 ways to use your customer stories.
What are your experiences getting more out of live presentations?
‘Stories That Sell’ Takes Home Gold in Axiom Business Book Awards
I’m excited to announce today that Stories That Sell: Turn Satisfied Customers into Your Most Powerful Sales and Marketing Asset has won Gold in the Advertising/Marketing/PR/Event Planning category of the 2010 Axiom Business Book Awards.
This week, Jenkins Group Inc. announced the results of the second annual, 2010 Axiom Business Book Awards, designed to honor the year’s best business books and their authors and publishers.
The Axiom Business Book Awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary business books and their creators, with the understanding that business people are an information-hungry segment of the population, eager to learn about great new books that will inspire them and help them improve their careers and businesses.
Stories That Sell, authored by Casey Hibbard and published by AIM Publishers, introduces a proven process for leveraging customer success stories into new sales. It offers Success-Story Marketing™ best practices from me on creating and managing customer stories, with insight from organizations such as Sage Software, SAP, Toyota, Kronos, Amdocs, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and dozens of other businesses, independent consultants, and nonprofits.
Kudos also to my friend and fellow writer Peter Bowerman for winning Silver in the Business Reference category for his The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less. Peter is a multiple award winner for his Well-Fed series of books, which I highly recommend.
Check out the full list of award winners.
Order from this site and get TWO bonuses!
Companion ebooks to Stories that Sell!
Get the most out of Stories that Sell with The Marketer's Toolkit AND The Writer's Toolkit. These additional resources provide proven tips to help you succeed with success stories.
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